A frak-load went down in Battlestar Galatica’s revelatory third season, but none went through more than rough-edged warriors Col. Saul Tigh (Michael Hogan) and Capt. Kara ”Starbuck” Thrace (Katee Sackhoff). Tigh lost an eye and killed his Cylon-collaborating wife, only to discover that — oops! — he’s a toaster too. And Starbuck, well, she died — only to pop up in her fighter next to Capt. Lee Adama (Jamie Bamber) in the season finale.

So, for this EW 100 online extra, we jumped on the phone with Hogan, 58, and Sackhoff, 27, in celebration of the momentous season — mere days, it turned out, before the announcement that the fourth season of Battlestar, launching Jan. 2008, would be the show’s last. In a quick follow-up the day after the news broke, both actors said that they weren’t surprised by the announcement — it had been on-set scuttlebutt for months, explains Hogan, but ”when you hear it announced officially, you go, Whoa, OK, they’re serious.” Still, he says, ”it would be good to finish while it’s hot.” Sackhoff agrees, and she’s excited for what’s ahead: ”I can imagine now, knowing that this is our last year, that it’s going to be such a tremendously amazing, action-packed season.” She adds, ”I think by the end of this season, Kara Thrace will have said everything she needed to say.” Wait, so does that mean Starbuck’s alive?! Read on and see for yourself…

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let’s start at the end — last season’s finale was quite the humdinger. How did you two react when you first got the script?MICHAEL HOGAN: Disbelief. I couldn’t believe it. And I still can’t believe it. That was my reaction to it. KATEE SACKHOFF: I think everyone was pretty shocked. My feeling was that it made sense that the four [final Cylons] were all aligned with a person in power who could individually take down the fleet if they wanted to. Col. Tigh’s with Adama, Tori’s with the president, Tyrol controls the ship, and Anders is with, you know, Starbuck.

Speaking of that, Katee, do you know what the heck Starbuck is?HOGAN: [Chuckles] SACKHOFF: No. And even if I did, I couldn’t tell you. I have no idea what she is. I have no idea if I’m alive or if I’m dead.

Can you at least confirm if you’re, you know, corporeal? That you’re not just a figment of poor Apollo’s mind?SACKHOFF: Well, I do know that I am [corporeal]. Not a figment. And if I am, I’m a figment of everyone’s imagination.

Michael, had you ever thought that Tigh would be a Cylon?HOGAN: Never. Never at all. Someone told me that there was a survey on the Net and that Tigh was the second lowest of everyone ever involved in Battlestar Galactica [suspected] of being a Cylon.

How are you managing that?HOGAN: Well, I haven’t had to manage it yet, because we’re [shooting] the flashback movie, but it hasn’t been that much of a problem yet because Tigh doesn’t believe [he’s a Cylon]. He doesn’t know what’s going on. And Hogan’s not convinced that he’s a Cylon. SACKHOFF: [Cackles] I love it. I love that you can justify anything on a sci-fi show.

The use of a remixed version of Bob Dylan’s ”All Along the Watchtower” in the finale was also pretty striking.SACKHOFF: I couldn’t believe they got the rights. HOGAN: Neither could I. I’ve been very affected by that song since it first came out, so it’s very spooky that that’s the one they used.

Michael, did you know that’s what you were hearing when you were hearing the ship ”sing”?HOGAN: Yes. Tigh wouldn’t know that that’s ”All Along the Watchtower,” but yeah. We did know that that’s what it was. Now whether they were going to actually get the rights to it, and we were going to use it, was another issue.

NEXT PAGE: ”When you said that, I felt flattered. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s so sweet.’ And then I was like, ‘Wait a minute, he’s talking about Starbuck.”’